240mm or 360mm differences?

[Mark Kaine]

whats really the difference? i see cfm is all over the place between the two (incorrect info maybe) 

 

For example a 240mm (deepcool) has 86 cfm ... wouldn't that still be better than my noctua u12s (55cfm iirc) or why should i choose a 360mm radiator instead?  

 

Also asking because fitting a 360mm will be very hard in my case (inwin 301), even 240mm might be cutting it close.

 

 

[Tan3l6]

Well, it's not like 1/3 bigger radiator and one more fan would result in massive difference, that's obvious. But even if the margins differ not too much also usually there is no big price difference either..

I think if the case fits, the 280mm or 420mm radiators/AIO-s are the most optimal. Just my thoughts.

If you don't have space for 260 but only 240 the cooling performance difference is usually marginal afaik.

[Mark Kaine]

4 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

Interesting thing to contemplate...

Well, it's not like 1/3 bigger radiatod and one more fan would result in massive difference, that's obvious. But even if the margins differ not too much also usually there is no big price difference either..

 

hmm yeah, but the thing is, on average there is a price difference of 50 bucks or so, plus i dont think a 360 would fit into my case... highly unlikely...

 

So what really is the difference,  its not necessarily the cfm apparently... im guessing a 360 can keep temps down for longer maybe, but how would that be measured?

 

or simpler, would a 86cfm aio really be better than my 55cfm aircooler... what could I expect? 

[Tan3l6]

4 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

hmm yeah, but the thing is, on average there is a price difference of 50 bucks or so, plus i dont think a 360 would fit into my case... highly unlikely...

 

So what really is the difference,  its not necessarily the cfm apparently... im guessing a 360 can keep temps down for longer maybe, but how would that be measured?

 

or simpler, would a 86cfm aio really be better than my 55cfm aircooler... what could I expect? 

With most AIO you could swap the fans for higher cfm, but I think that usually also makes not too much of a difference (or at least the noise would be higher).

Also the 2X120 fan configuration of any 240mm AIO should be more efficient than any single-tower (120mm) aircooler.

 

[Mark Kaine]

15 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

With most AIO you could swap the fans for higher cfm, but I think that usually also makes not too much of a difference (or at least the noise would be higher).

Also the 2X120 fan configuration of any 240mm AIO should be more efficient than any single-tower (120mm) aircooler.

 

oh, ok, well i sort of knew a 360 wouldn't fit, just checked, it doesn't, 240mm max , but i was still curious if that's even worth it... so i guess it shouldn't make a huge difference?  even though most people suggest 360mm obviously. 

 

and well,the "cfm" of the 240 is better than my noctua,  so it "should" be cooler running,  although that probably depends on several factors. 

[Tan3l6]

11 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

oh, ok, well i sort of knew a 360 wouldn't fit, just checked, it doesn't, 240mm max , but i was still curious if that's even worth it... so i guess it shouldn't make a huge difference?  even though most people suggest 360mm obviously. 

 

and well,the "cfm" of the 240 is better than my noctua,  so it "should" be cooler running,  although that probably depends on several factors. 

If the NOCTUA U12S in your profile is the air cooler in question of swapping out, then it most likely would be sufficient for the 5800X3D in your profile.

I'd not swap it if there was no problems with current cooler. But if you do, the aio also has the potential benefit of not blocking the RAM slots.

[Tristerin]

CFM, correlates to DB.  More DB (noise) higher CFM (basically).

 

 

[freeagent]

I can run my X3D semi passively in my setup, no need for an AIO on that cpu.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Tan3l6 said:

If the NOCTUA U12S in your profile is the air cooler in question of swapping out, then it most likely would be sufficient for the 5800X3D in your profile.

I'd not swap it if there was no problems with current cooler. But if you do, the aio also has the potential benefit of not blocking the RAM slots.

it is sufficient,  79c max in cb23 (85 without pbo)

but i still think temps are holding it back somewhat... for example i was doing Firestrike, 29843 points, which is quite good,  but also just kinda average,  despite my gpu running at 2025mhz, and the only thing dragging me down a bit seems to be cpu score, so I was simply thinking of ways to get a bit better temps...

 

basically:

bigger aircooler

 aio (difficult, apparently)

or better case (probably the most promising option) 

 

things are actually looking good... but some people get 32000 overall score with the same cpu/gpu and better cpu score... so something seems not ideal there (aka probably temps? ) and i kinda doubt "overclocking" the cpu would do much (although its possible? some boards can apparently do it, but GN tested it and wasn't impressed...lol)

 

 

 

(no downclocking whatsoever seemingly?) <- except the gpu in  "stress test" whatever that is doing??

ive never seen it in such straight lines actually ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

 

31 minutes ago, freeagent said:

I can run my X3D semi passively in my setup, no need for an AIO on that cpu.

well i bought a torrent compact... i really like the design and i think airflow should actually be a lot better, but i returned it because it wasn't actually in perfect condition and i don't like the side glass panel, it feels so flimsy!  

 

in hindsight i should have probably just rma it, but i didn't have a lot of time at this point... but changing out the case is still an option,  obviously...

 

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Mark Kaine
*overall score

[freeagent]

14 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

well i bought a torrent compact... i really like the design and i think airflow should actually be a lot better, but i returned it because it wasn't actually in perfect condition and i don't like the side glass panel, it feels so flimsy!  

I don't understand?

[Mark Kaine]

4 minutes ago, freeagent said:

I don't understand?

what exactly? 

 

the case had smudges,  it just wasn't in good condition (poor packaging perhaps? )

 

and the side panel is too thin, not blackened, and has rather huge gaps! (i really dont like that specifically) 

[freeagent]

Just now, Mark Kaine said:

what exactly? 

How can the glass side panels be flimsy?  Mine is the RGB version, maybe it has thicker glass..?

 

You can get more airflow, just add some fans.

 

It performs almost as well as my Meshify C did with a bunch of iPPC, its just a lot quieter  

 

But yeah, its not the most thought out case. It performs well, there are some concessions to be made while using it. I will probably give mine to one of my kids and go with something else. We'll see.

[WoodenMarker]

CFM is cubic feet per minute. The spec means how much air the fan can move when unobstructed. 

The CFM alone doesn't really matter though since a cooler is made up of multiple parts and the effective CFM is lower once obstructions like the heatsink, radiator, or case comes into play. 

For comparing cooler performance, look at benchmarks. 

[Mark Kaine]

On 1/1/2023 at 11:18 PM, WoodenMarker said:

CFM is cubic feet per minute. The spec means how much air the fan can move when unobstructed. 

The CFM alone doesn't really matter though since a cooler is made up of multiple parts and the effective CFM is lower once obstructions like the heatsink, radiator, or case comes into play. 

For comparing cooler performance, look at benchmarks. 

Thanks, i see... well I'll remember that for the future,  but right now i think a better case would be more effective to me, i just want slightly better temps overall and while I *really* like my 301, it does have its limitations... its a pain to built in, has limited options for cpu coolers, not to mention the whole being closed off at the front thing... most of that comes with the territory of being pretty small,  i mean its m-atx, but that's probably also the main reason i like it.

 

However as said it has its limitations and i also have to clean it often, which gets kinda tedious,  a slightly bigger case with a front mesh would certainly be better overall... the problem is there's so many of them, im currently between the 4000D airflow,  torrent compact and pure base 500 DX... they all seem to be quite good, but also have their drawbacks,  realistically the torrent compact would be best because i don't want my case to be open on the top tbh. im actually thinking of just putting a metal or acrylic plate on top of the 4000D, because otherwise I would prefer that a lot... but then idk how bad that actually would be for the airflow??

[WoodenMarker]

20 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

im actually thinking of just putting a metal or acrylic plate on top of the 4000D

Airflow would be fine but not optimal. Seems like you should just get the Torrent.